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Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.2 |
Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.4.1 |
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================================================================ |
================================================================== |
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Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Anders Gavare. |
Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare. |
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GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
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hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
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systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
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Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SuperH) are emulated using dynamic |
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translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul |
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does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate |
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representation", and will thus run on any host architecture. |
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The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
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be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating |
be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating |
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systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, NetBSD/cats, and OpenBSD/cats. |
systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats. |
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Changes between release 0.4.1 and 0.4.2 include, among other things: |
Changes between release 0.4.3 and 0.4.4.1 include, among other things: |
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o) The NetWinder emulation mode now works well enough to let |
o) The interrupt subsystem has been redesigned. This means two things: |
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NetBSD/netwinder run from a disk image. |
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(NetBSD/netwinder has to be installed manually, though, because |
x) Internal code cleanup, which makes the whole emulator more |
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there is no installation ramdisk kernel. The GXemul documentation |
maintainable. Instead of using magically encoded integers |
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has an example of how to install NetBSD/netwinder using an emulated |
for interrupts, strings are now used. These strings are in |
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NetBSD/pmax machine.) |
the form of "paths", so that devices and busses can more |
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easily be connected to other busses, devices, or CPUs. |
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o) Algorithmics P5064 emulation works well enough to let NetBSD/algor |
x) Some machine types which happened to work in release 0.4.3, |
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run from a disk image. (Similar to NetBSD/netwinder, it has to |
but were not listed in the documentation as working, may |
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be installed manually, using another emulated machine.) |
have stopped working now. As always, the documentation should |
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indicate the combinations of machine modes and guest OSes that |
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are supposed to work. |
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o) PCI configuration register writes can now be handled, which allows |
o) SuperH (SH4) emulation is now somewhat more stable. |
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NetBSD/Malta (evbmips) 3.0.1 and NetBSD/cobalt 3.0.1 to run from |
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PCI IDE harddisk images. (Previously, only NetBSD 2.1 worked for |
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the Malta and Cobalt emulation modes.) |
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o) Some performance increases: |
x) GXemul 0.4.4: A NetBSD/dreamcast Live CD works. |
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x) GXemul 0.4.4.1: A Linux/dreamcast Live CD also works. |
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The virtual translation table update routine has been simplified |
o) PowerPC "G4" emulation is now stable enough to let NetBSD/macppc |
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to work the same way for 32-bit and 64-bit emulation, and this |
run from a disk image. (Installing actually worked before, but the |
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apparently results in a speedup for all 64-bit modes. |
NetBSD/macppc GENERIC kernel uses AltiVec instructions which were |
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not implemented correctly.) |
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For 32-bit MIPS, some more instruction combinations have been added. |
o) The PICA-61 (arc) and i80321 (evbarm) emulation modes now have their |
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timers fixed at 100 Hz. A hardcoded speed like this is very ugly, but |
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it is at least better than before (when the timer wasn't really |
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running at any specific speed at all). |
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Please read the HISTORY files for more details. |
Please read the HISTORY files for more details. |
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This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA. |
This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA. |
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This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt. |
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Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
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Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
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or reuse code. |
or reuse code. |
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Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett, |
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Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and |
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everyone else who has provided me with feedback. |
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If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments |
If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments |
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or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
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